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TV Ratings: Stanley Cup Win for Kings Brings 6 Million Viewers

Hitting a five-year high for a game five, the hometown win for Los Angeles also comes just shy of the market record set by the 2012 win.

The Stanley Cup came to end Friday night with an average 6 million viewers tuning into the Los Angeles Kings' game five victory over the New York Rangers.

It marked the best game five in five years, but still fell shy of the tournament's high set last Saturday when 6.4 million watched game two. A second overtime helped bring more viewers into the end of the NBC telecast -- it peaked between midnight and 12:30 a.m. on the east coast -- though L.A. drew the highest rating of any market.

NBC's second-biggest NHL showing ever in Los Angeles, the game averaged a 12.4 rating. The final game of the Kings' last victory, in 2012, averaged a 13.6 rating.

Hockey is still a tough sell for many audiences, and the New York-Los Angeles tournament was not viewed as much as last year's six-game match-up between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins. That series concluded with 8.2 million viewers.

The last (and first) time the Kings won in 2012, ratings topped out at a modest 4.9 million viewers -- so this past run does mark a big improvement.